


A Matter of Pride

by jessi_08



Category: Women's Hockey RPF, Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-20
Updated: 2016-03-20
Packaged: 2018-05-27 22:29:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6302689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessi_08/pseuds/jessi_08
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens with Ashlyn Harris of Orlando Pride runs into Hilary Knight of Boston Pride at an airport? A quick friendship and a wager that gets both their national teams involved.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Matter of Pride

It all started with Hilary Knight and Ashlyn Harris running into each other at the DC airport. They both knew who the other was and couldn’t help but take the time to sit down and talk before their flights took off. It was later,on that same flight, that Hilary had an idea.  Quickly typing out a message to Ash, she brought the keeper in on her newly forming plan. 

It took months of back and forth, dealing with the schedules of all the teams that were involved, they finally found a weekend they all had available in the middle of summer. Hilary managed to make it slightly easier for the soccer players by agreeing to meet them at their latest camp location. That’s how she found herself on a plane, with most of her Hockey USA teammates. Everyone on board was talking about how awesome it would be to actually get to be able to meet the World Cup champions. What they were not aware of, however, was the impromptu badminton competition that had been set up between the teams. 

Hilary may have left out that small detail on purpose. She and Harris had wanted to find something fun for the teams to play together, so they’d had to find a sport that neither of the teams would have an advantage on. It also helped that no one on either team actually knew a thing about the game. Unfortunately, for that very reason, the team likely wouldn’t have agreed to it, had they known up front.  There were likely going to be some bruised egos before the day’s end. 

A possible ego-bruising was now very much on Hilary’s mind as she found herself staring down Alex Morgan through a badminton net. Hilary had to admit, she’d taken Ashlyn’s advice about not getting too competitive with the forward a bit too lightly. After some light trash talk Hilary was now mildly afraid for her life, and all of her family, as the small forward stared her down. 

“You got this Hils!” Meghan Duggan yelled from the stands. They were doing 2 v 2 for the games, having randomly picked out their opponents from a hat. 

“Come on baby horse!” Kelley O’Hara shouted and Hilary smirked.

“They seriously call you that? I figured it was a joke,” Hilary said, with a raised eyebrow. Mallory Pugh, Alex’s game partner, was shaking her head and waving her arms, trying to warn Hilary not to say anything, but it was too late. Alex’s eyes narrowed as a collective chill went across the court.

“Shut up and take your serve,” Alex said back and Hilary’s eyes went wide, maybe telling the smaller woman that she could eat her for breakfast hadn’t been the best move. Hilary looked over at Brianna Decker, her partner for the game. The woman just glared at her, she’d warned Hilary to keep her mouth shut.

“Get back here and take the serve!” she snapped and Hilary quickly moved back to figure out how to serve the weird object that Kelley and Tobin Heath claimed, with far more giggling than should be expected from two grown women, was referred to as a shuttlecock. The two soccer player had decided to be the ‘official rule keepers’ of the games and had Wikipedia up on their phones. Deeming this unfair, Duggs had Amanda Kessel and Kelli Stack join the soccer players to keep things impartial. 

Bri walked over and took the shuttle from Hilary, tossing it lightly in the air before hitting it squarely with her racquet. The object rocketed towards Mal, who easily dealt with it. Hilary watched as the shuttle whistled its way right toward her. She squeaked before attempting to hit it but instead it bounced off her nose and right to the ground. Hilary stared down at it as it sat on the cement, she pouted and looked up at Bri.

“It cheated,” she claimed and Bri rolled her eyes, grabbing the shuttle to serve again. Hilary looked up at Alex who grinned at her. 

“One nil so far,” she smirked and Hilary narrowed her eyes at her. 

“Keep dreaming Morgan, just like you dream of playing for the real Pride team!” Hilary shot back.

“Um… what did you say there sweetie? I couldn’t hear you over the roar of the current leaders fans,” Alex gave right back and Hilary huffed. 

“Maybe you’re just deaf, cause I certainly don’t hear anyone cheering for you.”

“Wooo go Lex!” Tobin chose that moment to cheer and Alex grinned, thankful for her best friend. 

“We seriously only have to get to three. Let’s please get this game moving,” Bri said and Hilary rolled her eyes but nodded. She watched as the shuttle flew through the air, she lined up her racquet and made the hit. She was so excited she hit the damn thing she didn’t even realized she scored because Alex failed to back peddle enough to get to the thing before it hit the ground.

“Awesome job Hils!” Bri shouted pulling Hilary from her thoughts, she looked over and saw Alex grumbling as she picked the shuttle up. 

“Holy shit I scored!” she grinned. The game ended up with Hilary and Bri winning, after a hard fought battle, by only a single point. 

“Alright Tobin, Ali you two are up. Same with you Dugs, Manda,” Hilary said as she walked over sitting on the bleachers. Alex tossed a water bottle her way and Hilary raised a hand in thanks. She refocused on the court and laughed as Tobin was juggling the shuttle with her feet, even attempting to use the net to make it more interesting for herself. 

“Hey now, we can’t use our feet,” Dugs said and Tobin shrugged, kicking the shuttle up into her hand. 

They had the first serve, and Hilary knew instantly that her girls were in trouble. Tobin owned the court while Ali basically sat on the back edge taking care of any shuttle that ended up that far back. Hilary groaned when Tobin scored yet again, only needing one more point for the win. Lucky for them, Tobin shanked the last serve and ended up handing a point over to them. The next point was a long play. Each side volleyed the shuttle over 8 times, till finally Ali blasted the shuttle and it landed perfectly on the cement between Amanda and Meghan. Both women groaned as they walked off the court while Tobin jumped on Ali for a hug, celebrating their win.

The rest of the pairings managed to go down much the same way, leaving things all tied up going into the final match. The last pairings were Ashlyn and Kelley vs Kacey Bellamy and Megan Bozek. 

“Ash, you gotta back outta the net. We don’t play this like soccer. I swear you should have realized that by now, we’ve been watching this for hours!” Kelley said, earning a few chuckles from the two teams. 

“I’m trying to intimidate them,” Ash clarified, turning back to the hockey players with the fiercest look she could muster and Kelley looked at them.

“Yeah, Ash. They play a real contact sport, they aim to hit one another… we don’t, however fun it may be. We’ll never be intimidating.”

“Why couldn’t I be paired with your better half?” Ash grumbled and Kelley gasped, feigning hurt.

“Don’t you love me Ashy?”

“Yeah, but at least Hope knows how to intimidate people,” Ash said causing Megan and Kacey to look up at Hope who was watching them with a critical eye.

“Yeah, she’d intimidate us,” Megan said and Ash grinned.

“See,” she said and Kelley rolled her eyes. 

“Alright guys, remember the winner of this takes away the true honor of our team name!” Hilary said earning glares from a few of the players who weren’t on the Boston Pride while Ash’s face dropped into her palm.

“Wait, are you saying we’ve played this stupid thing for hours, all because you and Ash have the same team name?” Amanda asked. 

“It’s not just us!” Hilary was quick to defend.

“How about let’s finish this and see who really is the better team?” Duggan said and everyone nodded.

“So, this is like winter vs summer?” Kelley asked.

“Yeah, except summer won’t be winning for the best season this time,” Kacey said grinning.

“Sure it won’t,” Kelley said as she served, starting the game. 

What quickly came to light was that both  Kelley, and Megan were actually really good at Badminton. It truly became a battle between just the two women. What also became clear rather quickly was that the rule change they’d agreed on for the final,  having to win by at least two points,had turned into an impossible feat. 

“You got this Kelley!” Hope shouted from the stands. She elbowed Ash, for what the blonde swore was the hundredth time, for abandoning Kelley out on the court alone. Ash and Kacey agreed after 6 points that since neither of them had actually played the shuttle once, that they’d walk off leaving the other two to play 1 v 1. 

“Get her Bozek!” Amanda shouted over top Hope. Hope turned around and glared at the young woman, who shuffled behind Hilary. “Please don’t hurt me…” she whimpered and Hope just grinned at her before turning back to the game.

“I won’t hurt you, Kess, you’re needed to bring the gold home next time.”

“Oh,” Amanda smiled peeking out from behind her girlfriend, “yeah, I am!” 

“And I’m chopped liver?” Hilary asked and Hope fixed her with a glare. “I’m chopped liver.”

“Guys, maybe we should call it,” Tobin said walking up with Christen Press.

“No way!” Hilary said jumping up.

“They’ve been playing for an hour, it’s late, we’re tired, and hungry. It’s just going to stay this way.”

“Plus we do have to practice in the morning,” Christen added.

“And a game after that,” Tobin said.

“I… guess…” Hilary pouted and Amanda rolled her eyes, she leaned down and kissed her.

“Forfeit and we’ll go get dinner with them, you don’t have to leave your new friends just yet.”

“Guys want dinner?” Hilary asked the two on the court.

“No! We have to finish this!” Kelley yelled and Megan nodded.

“Come on squirrel! Dinner, then bed with a movie.”

“Yeah Meg, dinner then bed with a movie!” Kacey shouted and Megan groaned but allowed her racquet to drop. Hope lead Kelley over to the small locker room that was at the courts so she could shower off while Megan followed Kacey into the other one. 

Soon both teams were settled into a local bar, sharing stories of their travels, and games. Their heartbreaks and moments they treasured. 

Hilary looked down the table a little ways and smiled at Ashlyn giving her a thumbs up which she got back. They were pretty damn happy with how this turned out. Hilary leaned back in her chair grinning, she was excited to watch The Gals take on their upcoming opponents and hopefully kick their asses. She had a deeper respect for these women now and was glad to be able to call them friends.

Two nights later Hilary was able to call them the victors, and also learned that those tiny women could outdrink her bulkier hockey girls and was glad she wasn’t the one that had to corral them at the end of the night, even if she did help poor Mal out. 

**Author's Note:**

> I totally blame my beta for this. Fun to write though! Let me know what you guys think as always!


End file.
